Julie Goodwin (L) won Australia's first MasterChef. Photo / Supplied
Julie Goodwin (L) won Australia's first MasterChef. Photo / Supplied
The cooking show that took Australia by storm looks set to land in New Zealand.
An audience bigger than the population of Aotearoa tuned in to watch the final of Australian MasterChef last month, setting a new national record.
TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said the state broadcaster was in talksabout a Kiwi version, but wouldn't say with whom.
The show started in the UK and pits amateur chefs head-to-head in a range of cooking challenges.
In Australia, 4.11 million people tuned in to watch 38-year-old mum of three Julie Goodwin's victory on Channel 10. She won $100,000 and a cookbook deal.
Both the UK and Aussie versions are judged by sharp-tongued chefs and food critics - John Torode and Gregg Wallace in Britain and Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan in Australia - so New Zealand would likely follow suit.
Flamboyant foodie Peta Mathias is a TVNZ favourite but said she had never watched the show and didn't think it sounded like her thing.
"I find any kind of competitive thing really stressful and really horrible. I don't find it entertaining."
Chef and Herald on Sunday food writer Paul Jobin, on the other hand, would love to be involved: "It'd be a lot of fun."
Other potentials could be Richard Till and Al Brown, Auckland restaurateur Simon Gault and chef-of-the-moment Michael Meredith.
